1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a liquid ejecting apparatus that ejects liquid from nozzles.
2. Related Art
In the related art, as the liquid ejecting apparatus that ejects liquid droplets onto a target, there is an ink jet type printer that prints an image or the like on a paper onto which ink droplets are ejected. In this kind of printer, a recording head is moved in a main scanning direction and the paper is moved in a sub scanning direction. The recording head and ink cartridges are loaded on a carriage and moved. A nozzle column is formed in a lower surface of the recording head, and the ink cartridge and the nozzle column communicate with each other through a flow channel. The ink flows in the flow channel from the ink cartridges to the nozzle columns.
In JP-A-2003-1842, a printer is disclosed wherein the printer includes first and second ink cartridges that contain the same color ink, a first flow channel communicates the first ink cartridge with a first nozzle column, and a second flow channel communicates the second ink cartridge to a second nozzle column. Also, the nozzles of the first nozzle column and the nozzles of the second nozzle column are arranged in positions spaced out in the sub scanning direction (a paper transporting direction). Thus, the ink is simultaneously ejected from the first and the second nozzle columns so that the print can be performed in dots of two rows simultaneously. Furthermore, the printer includes an ink residual amount detection section that detects ink residual amounts in the first and the second ink cartridges; and a selecting section that selects the ink cartridge used for a dot formation according the ink residual amount.
In a case where there is a difference in the ink residual amount between the first and the second ink cartridges, a control is performed such that ink is ejected from the nozzle column that corresponds to the ink cartridge having a large ink residual amount, while ink is not ejected from the nozzle column that corresponds to the ink cartridge having a small ink residual amount. Thus, the difference between the ink residual amounts can be decreased and exchange timings between the ink cartridges can be made equal to each other.
However, in the printer according to the related art, the ink is ejected from one side nozzle column and the ink is not ejected from the other side nozzle column of the first and the second nozzle columns so as to adjust the difference between the ink residual amounts. Thus, the dots of two rows are usually formed with one main scanning, but the dots of one row are formed with one main scanning when the ink residual amount is adjusted, so there is a problem that the printing speed is delayed. Also, in a case where the printing speed is maintained, there is a problem that resolution is lowered.